<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Rather Warm Locale by DonaldDuckITH</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28669677">A Rather Warm Locale</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonaldDuckITH/pseuds/DonaldDuckITH'>DonaldDuckITH</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Australian Hogwarts, Australian Quidditch, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Final Year is Thirteenth Year, First Year Equivalent To Kindergarten (Kindy), Gen, Magic Compatible Technology, Magpies Are a Problem, Making Up Things As I Go, Maybe Some Underage Down the Line, No Blood Purity Discrimination, No Relationship Tags Until I Write Them, Nonverbal Spellcasting (Harry Potter), Quidditch, Statute of Secrecy Isn't a Thing in Australia, Therefore Lily and James Live, Tom Riddle is Not Voldemort, Wandless Magic (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:27:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28669677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonaldDuckITH/pseuds/DonaldDuckITH</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The scorching sun blazed into Harry's back as he hurried to pull the washing off the clothesline before the forcast storm hit, if it did. The weather around Dubbo was... inconsistent, to say the least.</p><p>-~*~-</p><p>Harry Potter AU set in Australia. Tags basically say the rest. There are going to be a lot of terms that might confuse non-Aussies slightly and I'm sorry but you'll have to bear with it.</p><p>Probably sporadic posting schedule. Don't expect any sort of regularity when it comes to posting.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. In Which Harry Gets a Large Purple Letter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a blisteringly hot summer's day, not unlike most other days that summer. The blazing sun scorched Harry's back as he struggled to take down the washing from the clothesline. At only five years old, Harry was already over a metre tall, but even then had to stand on a chair to reach the clothes. Not even lowering the height of the clothesline did much to help. As finally put the last of the clothes in the basket, he hopped off the chair and walked through the backyard to the cooler, but still only just bearable house. Unfortunately, Harry had grabbed the oldest basket, which had long lost the featherlight charm his mother cast on every new basket they got and was struggling to get through the large yard.</p><p>When he finally reached the back door, he opened it and immediately yelled, "Mum, the feather charm needs to go on the basket again," before opening it slightly further and bringing the dry clothes inside.</p><p>Lily came out of the kitchen where she had been preparing lunch mumbling, "I swear that basket is more trouble than it's worth," before casting the charm wordlessly and wandlessly. Her face lit up as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Harry. You got a letter in the mail today. Why don't you go ahead and- oh, right, you can't read yet." She had been about to give him the large, purple envelope, but ended up opening it and reading it herself.</p><p>"Dear Harry,<br/>
You are to attend the New South Wales Institute: Education of Magical and Non-Magical Matters as required by the Australian Government. You will start on February the 5th. Attendance is mandatory until the age of eight, at which point your parent or guardian may choose to homeschool you, should they be willing. Any necessary supplies will be provided by the school. Students may bring their own stationery if they so choose. Students are required to wear a uniform and must wear it at all times during school hours.<br/>
We at NSWI hope to see you at the welcome ceremony on February the 5th.<br/>
-Isobel Ross, Principal."</p><p>Harry had known he would get the letter, but it somehow still shocked him. He suddenly realised that he would be starting in less than two weeks.<br/>
"So, we're getting your uniform tomorrow," Lily said, already three steps ahead of Harry. "Oh, my little boy is growing up so fast!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. In Which Harry and His Mother Go Shopping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, after James had gone to work. Harry and Lily drove to the nearest uniform shop to buy Harry's uniform. On the way through one of the pants aisles, Harry bumped into a boy about the same height as he was. Muttering an apology, Harry was more than surprised to see his cousin.</p><p>"Dudley!" he cried, hugging the other boy. Looking at what Dudley was carrying, he asked, "Did you get a big purple letter in the mail, too?"</p><p>Dudley nodded before saying, "I hope I'm in Dumbledore. I think navy blue would look good on me."</p><p>"I hope I'm in Grindelwald. I look amazing in purple, and I don't care that <em>Gellert</em> Grindelwald was one of the worst wizards ever, the house was named before he was born," Harry said enthusiastically. He quieted, though, when the front door of the shop opened and a man walked in, levitating a boy in front of him. The man looked tired, like he had done an all-nighter and still stuck to his usual sleep schedule. The boy, on the other hand, simply looked bored.</p><p>"Neville Peter Johnathan Longbottom, you are going to try on a uniform or so help me you'll never touch the ground again," the man reprimanded the boy, Neville. Neville deflated and mumbled, "fine," before being put on the floor. He then shuffled after his father towards the shirts until he caught sight of the two boys talking in one of the pants aisles and, peeling away from his father, walked over to them.</p><p>"Hi there. I'm Harry," Harry said to Neville, "and this is my cousin, Dudley."</p><p>"I-I'm Neville, but you probably already heard that. What school are you guys going to?" he asked meekly.</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Neville," Dudley said, taking a hold of the other boy's hand and shaking it, "Looks like we're probably all going to the same school, judging by the fact that your dad is obviously a wizard which, I know, doesn't necessarily make someone a wizard, but that doesn't happen a lot, so..." he trailed off.</p><p>Harry used the lull in the conversation to take a closer look at the boy in front of him. He was handsome, if not a little bit on the fat side but, far from detracting from his looks, it only served to add to his attractiveness. Harry was slightly puzzled at these thoughts but pushed them aside to deal with later.</p><p>"So, what house do you want to be in?" Harry heard Dudley ask Neville.</p><p>Neville paused, seemingly thinking. "I can't decide whether I want to be in Scamander or Dumbledore but it doesn't even matter, we don't get to choose anyway," he finally said, satisfied with his answer.</p><p>At that moment, Lily turned in to their aisle. "Harry! There you are. Dudley, your mum is waiting for you over near the-" Looking past Harry and Dudley, she saw another boy. "Who's this?" she asked as if she hadn't heard the commotion at the entrance of the store earlier, which she hadn't.</p><p>"I'm Neville Longbottom," he said, turning a shade of pink.</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Neville. Harry and I have to go pay for his clothes now but hopefully, we'll see you again sometime," and with that, she motioned for Harry to follow her and walked off towards the checkout.</p><p>Harry waved goodbye to Neville, who returned the gesture, before walking after his mum.</p><p>They paid and went back home. Harry was now more excited for school to start than ever.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... AO3 thinks that the 11th of January is "in the future", so I have to post this chapter with the date of 10 January 2021 even though it's almost 11 hours past that here. Please leave feedback and suggestions in the comments as I'm not particularly creative. Please notify me of any errors that may have slipped past accidentally. I may read, write and speak English fluently but it's still my second language. If you're wondering, Russian was my first for about 6 months. Yes, the last two sentences were basically a joke. I'm going to leave before I embarrass myself.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>